MICHELLE LEE
The conversation around beauty is changing and so are the faces that represent the new beauty standard. A movement towards a more diverse and inclusive representation in the media is happening right now and Allure US Editor-in-Chief, MICHELLE LEE, is one of the key driving forces behind it.
INTERVIEWER ROBYN NGAN
PHOTOGRAPHER RUO BING LI
When we consider beauty, we often see it as superficial – skin-deep, if you will. Lee challenges this. Beauty can be anything relating to our appearance, but our appearance is deeply entwined with our own identity and presents both cultural and societal meanings, all culminating in and contributing to our self-perceptions. Our appearance and our attitude towards how we look is moulded by race, ethnicity, age, gender, body type, even our aspirations – they are all distillations and representations of our past, our environments and who we are. Our appearance is our personal form of expression and creativity, so why do we think beauty is superficial?
As a Chinese-American, Lee recognised the underrepresentation of people of colour in mainstream media, entertainment andadvertising. Before assuming the role as Editor-in- Chief, Allure had only ever featured two women of Asian descent on their covers. For Lee, this wasn’t at all shocking. The sad reality of the situation was that this has been the state of American media for decades – it wasn’t exclusive to Allure, it was universal. And although Lee had condemned the lack of Asian representation for years, she felt that if she didn’t contribute in a positive way, especially given her position, she would also be part of the problem. Today, Allure boasts a number of Asian cover models: from Priyanka Chopra, to Kpop star, JB to Naomi Osaka. Beyond that, it has become Lee’s mission to feature even more incredible Asian voices on The Allure Podcast.
IMAGE: COURTESY OF ALLURE
“ I always knew that diversity would be an important part of my tenure at Allure. I’m going on five years as Editor in Chief, and it was important for me to hire a diverse staff and also to feature a more diverse range of cover stars and models across all of our platforms. I was like a broken record in the early days, pointing out ‘I’d love more diversity here…more here…’ when looking at photography.”
When Lee took on her role, she knew an important part of it would be to increase visibility of those who had been traditionally underrepresented. “I always knew that diversity would be an important part of my tenure at Allure. I’m going on five years as Editor in Chief, and it was important for me to hire a diverse staff and also to feature a more diverse range of cover stars and models across all of our platforms. I was like a broken record in the early days, pointing out ‘I’d love more diversity here…more here…’ when looking at photography.”
In the past year, we have seen brands and companies rush to show that they are “diverse”, but it is often only surface level. An example of this was Jacquemus’ Spring 2021 show where there was a plethora of models of different skin tones and ethnicities walking the runway, but behind the scenes, the staff were anything but diverse. This incident quickly became a meme within the fashion community, as though it was funny. In my eyes, it wasn’t, in fact it had crystalised one of the biggest problems within the fashion and beauty communities with the faux progression that they were attempting to display. It’s almost ironic that it became a meme, and some might even consider it emblematic of the blasé ttitude fashion and beauty communities view issues such as representation. But with beauty, style, culture and society being so intrinsically interlinked, the media we consume and brands we buy from must progress to represent reality accurately, and this should also extend to what happens off camera.
As expected, Lee’s relationship with beauty has changed over the years. As a young teenager, she didn’t see a space for herself within the beauty community and therefore never considered herself beautiful. Her beauty evolution began in her late teens and early twenties, when she began experimenting with her hair and makeup. When discussing this time period, Lee remarked, “I truly felt ugly …because for many years I had always been told by racist bullies for many years that I was. When I went to college and realised how diverse the world really is, I finally felt beautiful.” By her thirties, her focus had shifted to skincare. She attributes her wisdom to her age and maturity; it has taught her what works best for her. Now, after the birth of her third child, her approach to beauty has changed once again. She is now tasked with the job of teaching her children what beauty means. As a mother, she hopes to bestow her children with an understanding that beauty is a form of self-expression. And it’s fun. You don’t have to fill a mould or look a certain way. Every individual should feel – and be made to feel – comfortable engaging with beauty how ever they want to. In Lee’s own household, her 12 year old daughter enjoys watching makeup videos and spending her Sunday afternoons playing around with eyeshadow palettes. Currently, with the guidance of Lee, she views makeup as an artistic medium. Motherhood has taught Lee a lot about what beauty means, “I’ve always had a complicated relationship with the shape of my monolid eyes. But seeing those same eyes on my kids made me realise how beautiful they are.”
Coat and dress, TIBI
Lee’s time has become more limited after the birth of her third child. In the rare spare moments she has, she seeks comfort and enjoyment in taking the time to braid her hair or put on a full face of makeup. Her beauty regime has become ritualistic, and consequently, she is shining from within. Her skincare practices may have activated a new glow but the wisdom she has acquired and her understanding of herself has conspired to make her more renewed and awake than ever. Her radiance is as much from within as it is from her dewy skin.
When the pandemic began and stay-at-home orders, as well as Lee’s own maternity leave, came into effect, she found herself staying pretty casual and bare-faced at home. After several months, she found that she missed the routine she previously had of getting ready in the mornings and putting on makeup. Spending so much time at home had afforded her the opportunity to reset and re-evaluate the steps in her routine: what was she doing for herself and what was she doing for others?
Today, as far as makeup is involved, Lee gravitates towards two items: a good mascara and a peach or pink-toned cream blush. “If I could only wear two things, I would curl my lashes and sweep on Maybelline Total Temptation or Covergirl LashBlast waterproof mascara (always waterproof, since it holds a curl better. A great tip for anyone with straight lashes like me!) and dab on a little of the Westman Atelier blush stick in Minette. Plus, a multipurpose stick can also be used on the lids and lips.”
Growing up in a Chinese American household, Lee remembers the scent of Tiger Balm being ever-present and her mother’s obsession when it came to putting toothpaste on almost everything, it was her cure-all, but Lee isn’t too convinced it really cured anything. When asked about her current beauty routine, Lee replied, “if I were to completely pare down my routine, there are about three ingredients I would use for skin care: hyaluronic acid for hydration, vitamin C for brighten-ing, and Retinol for overall cell turnover. Oh, and sunscreen. Super important.” The first episode of the new Allure podcast, The Science of Beauty, is all about sunscreen, and as Lee puts it, “if you’re not using it daily and reapplying throughout the day, you might as well throw your other skin care products out the window.” It’s non-negotiable. For anyone who grew up in an Asian household, you know the importance of sunscreen. Hearing Lee’s approach, I felt as though I was listening to lec-tures from my own mother. I felt as though I had been transported to my youth when my mother would lather me in sunscreen until I was the same complexion as Edward Cullen. Obviously, nowadays it’s not quite the same, and sunscreen has come a long way now with SPF making its way into our f oundations, BB creams, CC creams and moisturisers alike. Putting on your sunscreen is like remembering to put a face mask on for the day: it’s your daily protection. It’s 2021 now, so remember to mask up and sunscreen up!
As women, we’re continuously scrutinised and criticised for our looks, and it gets no easier as we mature. Taught from a young age that wrinkles, age spots from the sun and grey hairs are the enemy. We criticise ourselves for something that is uncontrollable rather than hold the media and large corporations responsible for their consistent capitalisation on insecurities, and their constant reinforcement of self-defeating thoughts on women. Lee’s ban on the term “anti-aging” sought to spur an industry-wide movement to remove the stigma around the aging process. Working in women’s media, she became increasingly aware of the effect she had on readers and on women alike. The preying on women’s insecurities had to stop. “The language we use sends a message” says Lee.
Initially, Lee was sceptical about how her ban would be received, but the response was overwhelmingly positive. As you can imagine, there were several critics who brushed the notion off, claiming that it was all just semantics. Lee doesn’t see it that way. The media we consume and the messages they convey all contribute to our idea of self and our own evolution and Lee recognises this. There’s an accountability factor that was lacking before: consumers were never ignorant, but the difference now is that they acknowledge where the change must come from and just how deeply systemic these problems are. For decades, there has been a conversation around the negative effects of women’s magazines and the female-centric media. With markets designed purely for profiting off of women’s insecurities, whether they derive from actual self-criticisms, or are completely fabricated. The media, entertainment and advertising that surrounds us has influenced our society in countlessly different ways. But that doesn’t mean these things don’t have the power to make positive impacts. Beauty, style and culture all go hand-in-hand with one another, they are distillations of our society, representing far larger ideologies that transcend superficial fads. As it stands, the media is only a microcosm of reality. It not only needs to reflect a larger demographic, but also be more representative of what society really is.
In Lee’s eyes, the villainisation of the aging process had to stop. But banning the term “anti-aging” isn’t a solution to a problem so rampant and widespread. It requires a change in the discourse. Lee wanted to redirect the discussion, asserting that the aging process doesn’t require a fight. Yes, we can aim for blemish-free and wrinkle-free skin, but even if those prevail, so what? There is nothing wrong with growing older.
“I certainly haven’t completely evolved past feeling self-conscious about the effects of aging. I’m getting white hairs and age spots from the sun, and I’m not exactly doing somersaults over them. But my take is: you do you.”
This isn’t to say that the insecurities associated with aging evaporate or dissipate once the word is removed from a publication, but it’s a step in the right direction. Lee certainly feels this way, in her own words, “I certainly haven’t completely evolved past feeling self-conscious about the effects of aging. I’m getting white hairs and age spots from the sun, and I’m not exactly doing somersaults over them. But my take is: you do you.”
After removing the term “anti-aging”, it was inevitable that there were going to be other words or phrases that needed to be questioned, or even redefined. In Lee’s office, they took a hard look at the term “nude”. Traditionally, it was used in beauty to mean lighter shades – the beige, peachy or pink shades. Although the actual definition of “nude” refers to the colour of the wearer’s skin, it is almost always associated with lighter skin tones, leaving those of a darker complexion behind with fewer beauty and clothing options. If you really think about it, the existence of “nude” anything for darker women was non-existent until very recently – and even then, it was still hailed as “revolutionary” by many news outlets.
A large part of Lee’s job is understanding issues that need to be addressed. Even now, five years into her role as Editor in Chief, she acknowledges her own growth and humbly admits that part of that was “recognising [her] own blind spots.” To ensure that she can properly address them, she makes sure her team reflects the ideologies that she wants Allure to embody. If she didn’t help to alleviate the problem, she would only be contributing to it. If the staff she was working with did not represent what was being communicated, what she preaches would only be empty and shallow.
Growing up, I remember being surrounded by a Eurocentric beauty standard. The magazines I flipped through, the television shows and advertisements, the billboard campaigns and the films I saw, even the books I read all centred around a pretty, (often) blonde, skinny white protagonist. Recently, a makeup fad called the “fox-eye” trend emerged taking over social media platforms, where white women and models would attempt to accentuate their eyes to make them look elongated or slanted in shape, mimicking the almond eye shape. Often, the pose used to promote this trend would be using both hands to pull up on the temple area to create a more “lifted” look. Many in the Asian community denounced the trend and deemed it as offensive. For me, it was a reminder that whilst my features are perhaps beautiful, they are not beautiful on me, an Asian. In response to this trend, Lee commented, “I do shake my head at it a bit. In my childhood, I was teased because of my eyes, so it is funny how almond eyes are suddenly considered ground-breaking and beautiful when they’re on a white person. I get the controversy. That being said, when I zoom out, there has been a positive movement.” And Lee is right, of course. The increase in popularity of Asian influencers – whether that be Asian models, actors, Kpop idols or even the viral Chinese street fashion videos – is currently making waves. This was the representation that I so craved, and never really thought I would get. After much difficulty, multiple scandals and movements – it is finally being delivered.
“ I’m on a mission to change the very definition of beauty. But, yes, it’s also important that we expand who gets featured so it’s not just the same two or three people having to represent all Asians.”
IMAGE: COURTESY OF ALLURE
As the word “representation” is becoming more and more common, I was interested to know what Lee’s stance was on the term. “I think everything we do has significance at this point, whether it’s putting an Asian face on the cover or recontextualising phrases or words. There are still parts of America where people have never seen an Asian person in real life. If you have no experience interacting with Asians, of course we’ll seem foreign and unusual and, frankly, won’t be the image of beauty that they had in mind. I grew up up around people like that. So, I’m on a mission to change the very definition of beauty. But, yes, it’s also important that we expand who gets featured so it’s not just the same two or three people having to represent all Asians. For many years, Lucy Liu was the only Asian actress to appear on various magazine covers. I love sharing someone with our audience like, ‘you may not know this person yet, but they are huge in this other area, so you should know them.’”
Lee’s influence during her tenure at Allure is significant to many young Asian Americans, not just because she’s Chinese-American, but also because she knows what it’s like to scan through a newsstand and see no one that looks like her. She knows what it means to be left behind within the media, and she knows what needs to be done. There is no doubt that Lee’s work so far has made a difference within published media and the ripples of such are likely to influence younger audiences – reminding them that they are seen, and that they are being listened to. Thankfully, Lee is far from being done. From what we have seen of her work so far, it is safe to say that the movement towards a more inclusive and diverse industry standard, and the future of Allure is safe in the hands of Michelle Lee. As Lee says, “you do you”.
PHOTOGRAPHER: RUO BING LI
STYLIST: XUYUNER (ABBY) QI
HAIR & MAKE-UP: MICHELLE LEE